Earlier this week I received a call back from one of the companies I had applied a position at. Apparently my follow-up email after my first interview had impressed the manager. He asked me to go into their Sydney branch for a 2nd session which was basically just a " little " exam. The exam was to last approximately 3 hours long and included a timed IQ test, English proficiency test, and 318 psychological/personality profile questions. " Not to worry " said the manager, " It's just a standard procedure and it's just something to give us a better picture of what kind of person you are " So on Thursday, I joined the crowd during the rush hour to go down the their office in the city before 9.00am. They brought me to a room which was set-up with a few computer terminals. The test administrator briefed me on what I had to do, gave some instructions on how to log-in the computer terminal and how to key in my answers on the computer, and then left me to w...

This afternoon after church, hubby and I headed down to The Rocks near Circular Quay for the Aroma Coffee Festival . Our couple friends - KK&K, told us about this event and invited us to join them. There was going to be live entertainment, free live demos by professional baristas, and gourmet coffee stalls offering coffee samples at only $1 per cup (some stalls offered free samples of certain products) My favourite was the Piazza d'Oro coffee stall. It was one of the most crowded stalls that day with long queues of people lining up to sample their coffee. I liked their stall the best because they offered the most generous portions for their coffees, and they let you put any syrup flavour of your choice for free. I had a cappucino laced with vanilla and hazelnut syrups. Hubby ordered a cafe latte with irish cream and caramel syrups. Definitely a real sweet deal for $1. Piazza d'Oro was also giving away free samples of their new hot chocolate. Anything FREE, just go line u...

My job search is underway. But it's not been a easy path. With loads of applications sent out. A number of interviews attended. And zero offers to date. The rejection letters sure leave behind an unpleasant aftertaste. Nobody wants me. At times like this I'm tempted to do either one of 3 things: 1. Start my own business so I can hire myself 2. Ask hubby to start his own business so he can hire me 3. Go back to school

Aaaahhhh...... family you either love 'em or hate 'em...... Good thing I love mine * hugz * (BTW, Paul, please don't tell me you don't have any photo of all us that's better than this... I remember you were snapping quite a few shots here... don't only pick the one which you look good in, gotta think of the rest of us too!) After our last lovely guest had left, hubby and I sighed as we reflected what a beautiful time we all had together squished together under one small roof. It's been a long time since we had experienced student life...... cooking and eating together (in a tribal-like manner)...... late night conversations discussing nonsense as well as thought-provoking issues...... waitng for each other's turn to use the shower and toilet...... stepping over sleeping bodies sprawled out all over mattresses on the floor...... sharing stubbies...... and simply just laughing, talking, and playing together! We simply want to say THANK YOU to these lovely ...

Well the house is all quiet now with just two of us once again... definitely a big contrast to just a few days ago when we ambushed by 3 big kids bouncing around our tiny apartment... I think the extra people really helped to warm up the place. We didn't use the heater at all while they were here... but now they are all gone, the place started to feel a little chilly and we had to switch on the heater again yesterday night. I baked another cake last night (baking helps keep me warm)... this time with white frosting decorated with smarties. This time there was no hungry hoard to pounce on it to gobble it up... sigh... it was nice having people around and being able to cook for others... I already enjoy cooking for hubby and myself... but being able to spread around the love more to others is nice too... And these kids were hungry! I mostly cooked Asian/Chinese food like fried minced pork, bakuteh, green curry etc. because I think they hardly get a chance to eat this kind of cooking ...

This has been a looong silence from me. I do apologise for this. This entry is to tell you that I will be updating you all VERY SOON (I hope!). Just to give you an idea on what I've been up to lately... I've been preoccupied with mainly 2 things: 1. Hillsong Conference '06 2. Visitors

Sometimes family members can be the ones that horrify and hurt you the most. One of the biggest obstables in keeping close family ties lies within the area of PERCEPTION . It's a common human trait to look at information an automatically form a perception based on what they take in. It could be an instinctive reaction whuch enables us to make decisions and take swift action in a given situation. However, perception can be bad because we can form presumptions and stereotpype based on what we merely perceive. I can think of so many examples where I've been guilty of it... as well as where I've been a victim of it... and I've witnessed so many other friends and family around me falling into the same trap. Squabbles and quarrels between family -- because one party thought that the other had done something to hurt them, when the actual situation was completely different. Then they feed on resentment and refuse to confront the situation because they are SO CONVINCED that th...

I really am a sucker for old movies. I remember years ago, every Friday (or was it Thursday?) after school, TV2 would screen old classic movies like "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "The World of Suzie Wong", "Oklahoma" and so many more. Those were golden years of movies. One of my all time favourites was "An Affair to Remember". It had the most pathetic and sad storyline. A classic tearjerker. I am convinced that all those modern sappy Korean/Hong Kong dramas were inspired by this story. The basic story is actually very simple: A man and a woman,who are engaged to other people, meet on a ship and quickly fall in love. They agree to meet six months later, but due to an accident one of them is not able to make it. Like your typical drama, they spin the story out slowly into a looooong drawn out drama... but they certainly do it well! ( IMHO at least ) Most people find this movie to be very slow moving with too much talking. This is quite true. But i...

The other day, for reasons unknown, hubby had a sudden impulse to tear open all the boxes of cereal bars to retrieve the free toys inside. It was done before I could stop him. I started to get cross with him when he pleaded and said that he never had such things when he was a kid, and promised to clean it all up afterwards. There was a superman x-ray vision pen, a wristband, sports pouch among the little knick knacks he found inside the boxes. Sigh. Boys will always be boys. Since the deed was already done, I made hubby make a solemn promise that we will never tolerate such nonsense from our kids next time... because I'm not going to be the one to clean up the mess afterwards... while he and the kids just fool around. Maybe I will be the fierce parent after all? Hmmm.... naaaaah!

This is my current favourite morning spot. The rising sun hits directly right on this spot in the bedroom. And on any clear sunny winter morning, I like to lounge right here... doing some reading, thinking, sipping tea or just daydreaming for about half an hour or so. I am what my dad used to call a "cold blooded creature" because I retain/conduct body heat so poorly. I get cold rather easily. So like a lazy lizard, I need a little sunshine in the morning to kick-start me for the day. This sunshiny spot is precious while the sun continues to shine. I will miss it in mid to late winter when there will be more clouds than sunshine. Trivia time again!!! I also made an important discovery about the sun these past few months... this sunny spot used to be at the other side on the apartment in the living area in summer... in autumn it disappeared somewhat... and has now reemerged at the opposite side in the bedroom. I know in theory that the angle of the sun's rotation changes o...